Lennard J. Davis
@lendavis.bsky.social
First gen professor of disability studies, poverty and working class studies, novel criticism and theory. Currently Emeritus Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
My new essay on #RolandBarthes as professor. This is based on my year in his seminar 1972-73 in Paris.
Tutoy-ing: Roland Barthes et Moi
Visit the post for more.
sites.cardiff.ac.uk
October 30, 2025 at 8:25 PM
My new essay on #RolandBarthes as professor. This is based on my year in his seminar 1972-73 in Paris.
academic.oup.com/alh/article/... John Marsh's ALH review of my book POOR THINGS ends "After reading Poor Things...academics may never see works about the poor the same."
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academic.oup.com
September 22, 2025 at 6:23 PM
academic.oup.com/alh/article/... John Marsh's ALH review of my book POOR THINGS ends "After reading Poor Things...academics may never see works about the poor the same."
Great review by @mattbrim.bsky.social of my book POOR THINGS in the Journal of Working Class Studies.
View of Davis, L. (2024) Poor Things: How Those with Money Depict Those Without It. Duke University Press.
journals.uwyo.edu
September 12, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Great review by @mattbrim.bsky.social of my book POOR THINGS in the Journal of Working Class Studies.
Reposted by Lennard J. Davis
Section 504 in the Rehabilitation Act in 1972 was as short as a tweet, but it belied the volumes of language it would generate in the coming years of disability history. #DisabilityPrideMonth #ADA35 @lendavis.bsky.social
Forty-Six Words That Changed Disability History
By Lennard J. Davis | Trying to find a moment when the ADA began is like trying to find the source of the Nile or the Amazon. So many tributaries flow into the making of the ADA that you cannot say if...
www.beaconbroadside.com
July 25, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Section 504 in the Rehabilitation Act in 1972 was as short as a tweet, but it belied the volumes of language it would generate in the coming years of disability history. #DisabilityPrideMonth #ADA35 @lendavis.bsky.social
This American Life is rebroadcasting my segment this weekend for Father’s Day It starts about 5 minutes into the episode. It's about using DNA testing to find out if my father was my biological father.
Go Ask Your Father - This American Life
Sons and daughters get to find out the one thing they've always wanted to know about their father.
www.thisamericanlife.org
June 14, 2025 at 2:08 PM
This American Life is rebroadcasting my segment this weekend for Father’s Day It starts about 5 minutes into the episode. It's about using DNA testing to find out if my father was my biological father.
A fake version of the Disability Studies Reader 6th edition has been put up on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The 6th edition was never published. Routledge is working to get the listing taken down. Please do not order it because this is a scam. All the previous editions 1st through 5th are genuine.
May 12, 2025 at 8:20 PM
A fake version of the Disability Studies Reader 6th edition has been put up on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The 6th edition was never published. Routledge is working to get the listing taken down. Please do not order it because this is a scam. All the previous editions 1st through 5th are genuine.
If you are a Columbia alum you should consider signing this letter. Please repost.
www.columbiaalumniforacademicfreedom.org
www.columbiaalumniforacademicfreedom.org
Columbia Alumni for Academic Freedom - Columbia Alumni for Academic Freedom
Columbia Alumni for Academic Freedom Columbia alumni, join us in defending academic freedom by signing the letter below. Columbia University Alumni Statement on Academic Freedom “There is a certain en...
www.columbiaalumniforacademicfreedom.org
April 14, 2025 at 12:49 PM
If you are a Columbia alum you should consider signing this letter. Please repost.
www.columbiaalumniforacademicfreedom.org
www.columbiaalumniforacademicfreedom.org
Disabled Americans fear losing protections if states’ lawsuit succeeds
March 12, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Disabled Americans fear losing protections if states’ lawsuit succeeds
Reposted by Lennard J. Davis
We join with publishers, authors, booksellers & librarians to affirm that the White House executive order recognizing only two sexes constitutes censorship and has no place in a free society.
University presses strive to give voice to the breadth of human knowledge & experience.
1/2
University presses strive to give voice to the breadth of human knowledge & experience.
1/2
February 12, 2025 at 8:09 PM
We join with publishers, authors, booksellers & librarians to affirm that the White House executive order recognizing only two sexes constitutes censorship and has no place in a free society.
University presses strive to give voice to the breadth of human knowledge & experience.
1/2
University presses strive to give voice to the breadth of human knowledge & experience.
1/2
Problematic for its emphasis on "white" and "men" but relevant in regard to classism and poorism.
White privilege doesn’t exist for working-class men in higher education
Consider social class a protected characteristic and remove financial barriers to make HE accessible to white, working-class men, writes Mark Butterick
www.timeshighereducation.com
February 15, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Problematic for its emphasis on "white" and "men" but relevant in regard to classism and poorism.
Reposted by Lennard J. Davis
Found this to be a crucial, moving intervention that explains something so basic yet unbearably ignored.
"So many people study class, Marx, Gramsci, Althusser etc, but they just don't care or don't want to think about poor people and poverty."
Listen to the episode!
"So many people study class, Marx, Gramsci, Althusser etc, but they just don't care or don't want to think about poor people and poverty."
Listen to the episode!
You might want to listen to an interview with me on New Books Network about POOR THINGS. @dukepress.bsky.social , #poverty
newbooksnetwork.com/poor-things-2
newbooksnetwork.com/poor-things-2
February 15, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Found this to be a crucial, moving intervention that explains something so basic yet unbearably ignored.
"So many people study class, Marx, Gramsci, Althusser etc, but they just don't care or don't want to think about poor people and poverty."
Listen to the episode!
"So many people study class, Marx, Gramsci, Althusser etc, but they just don't care or don't want to think about poor people and poverty."
Listen to the episode!
“The suit argues that Section 504 is “coercive, untethered to the federal interest in disability, and unfairly retroactive” and therefor unconstitutional.”
February 14, 2025 at 12:16 PM
“The suit argues that Section 504 is “coercive, untethered to the federal interest in disability, and unfairly retroactive” and therefor unconstitutional.”
First published academic review of my book POOR THINGS. It's very positive. Last line: "Poor Things
provides a deep reflection and the start of a conversation that
could go on forever." @dukepress.bsky.social #poverty
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
provides a deep reflection and the start of a conversation that
could go on forever." @dukepress.bsky.social #poverty
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Poor Things: How Those With Money Depict Those Without ItBy Lennard J. Davis, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2024. 291 pp. ISBN: 978‐1‐4780‐3102‐4
Click on the article title to read more.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 7, 2025 at 10:15 PM
First published academic review of my book POOR THINGS. It's very positive. Last line: "Poor Things
provides a deep reflection and the start of a conversation that
could go on forever." @dukepress.bsky.social #poverty
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
provides a deep reflection and the start of a conversation that
could go on forever." @dukepress.bsky.social #poverty
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
You might want to listen to an interview with me on New Books Network about POOR THINGS. @dukepress.bsky.social , #poverty
newbooksnetwork.com/poor-things-2
newbooksnetwork.com/poor-things-2
January 31, 2025 at 4:01 PM
You might want to listen to an interview with me on New Books Network about POOR THINGS. @dukepress.bsky.social , #poverty
newbooksnetwork.com/poor-things-2
newbooksnetwork.com/poor-things-2
I'll be speaking at the CUNY Victorian Seminar on Friday, February 7, 2025 at 12:00-1:15 pm, Graduate Center. Topic from my book POOR THINGS: "Biocultural Myths About Poverty: The Racialization of the Poor in Victorian London" Bring an ID to enter the CUNY Grad Center building. Room number TK.
January 20, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I'll be speaking at the CUNY Victorian Seminar on Friday, February 7, 2025 at 12:00-1:15 pm, Graduate Center. Topic from my book POOR THINGS: "Biocultural Myths About Poverty: The Racialization of the Poor in Victorian London" Bring an ID to enter the CUNY Grad Center building. Room number TK.
Important piece by Sara Novic.
Signed Away | Sara Nović
The hearing world continues to pillage and caricature the deaf community—most recently with the proprietary, sign-based system Makaton.
thebaffler.com
December 6, 2024 at 5:17 AM
Important piece by Sara Novic.
Reposted by Lennard J. Davis
My daughter Francesca Mirabella has a short in this Museum of Modern Art screening on December 12 at 7:30 pm. Please come and support these filmmakers.
FOFIF at MoMA 2024 — THE FUTURE OF FILM IS FEMALE
www.futureoffilmisfemale.com
November 29, 2024 at 9:20 PM
My daughter Francesca Mirabella has a short in this Museum of Modern Art screening on December 12 at 7:30 pm. Please come and support these filmmakers.
My daughter Francesca Mirabella has a short in this Museum of Modern Art screening on December 12 at 7:30 pm. Please come and support these filmmakers.
FOFIF at MoMA 2024 — THE FUTURE OF FILM IS FEMALE
www.futureoffilmisfemale.com
November 29, 2024 at 9:20 PM
My daughter Francesca Mirabella has a short in this Museum of Modern Art screening on December 12 at 7:30 pm. Please come and support these filmmakers.
Reposted by Lennard J. Davis
Public service announcement that Charles Booth's 'Maps Descriptive of London Poverty, 1898-9' have been uploaded by LSE archive online to be viewed and reproduced freely. 🗃️ unsplash.com/collections/...
November 28, 2024 at 8:06 AM
Public service announcement that Charles Booth's 'Maps Descriptive of London Poverty, 1898-9' have been uploaded by LSE archive online to be viewed and reproduced freely. 🗃️ unsplash.com/collections/...
Reposted by Lennard J. Davis
Reposted by Lennard J. Davis
The family-friendly movie, #OutOfMyMind (now streaming on #Disney+) "never forgets that creating a better world for kids with CP is a much bigger and more inclusive project than just convincing their peers not to bully them..."
Source: #IndieWire
#Disability #ReelAbilities
#RepresentationMatters
Source: #IndieWire
#Disability #ReelAbilities
#RepresentationMatters
November 22, 2024 at 5:26 PM
The family-friendly movie, #OutOfMyMind (now streaming on #Disney+) "never forgets that creating a better world for kids with CP is a much bigger and more inclusive project than just convincing their peers not to bully them..."
Source: #IndieWire
#Disability #ReelAbilities
#RepresentationMatters
Source: #IndieWire
#Disability #ReelAbilities
#RepresentationMatters
Reposted by Lennard J. Davis
It feels like our discipline is not equipped to handle this existential threat. We need to be mobilizing our resources - professional associations, unions, alumni, etc. - and make a political push against these crackdowns. And no, a statement is not going to cut it.
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/21/u...
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/21/u...
Florida Tries a Subtler Way to Curb Progressive Ideology: Cut Sociology
Conservatives in Florida have moved from explosive politics to subtler tactics to uproot liberal “indoctrination” in higher education by removing classes like Sociology from core requirements.
www.nytimes.com
November 21, 2024 at 1:42 PM
It feels like our discipline is not equipped to handle this existential threat. We need to be mobilizing our resources - professional associations, unions, alumni, etc. - and make a political push against these crackdowns. And no, a statement is not going to cut it.
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/21/u...
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/21/u...
Reposted by Lennard J. Davis
Extremely excited to read this new book by @lendavis.bsky.social - can already see it articulates the problems of reading & writing poverty afresh.
November 21, 2024 at 10:57 AM
Extremely excited to read this new book by @lendavis.bsky.social - can already see it articulates the problems of reading & writing poverty afresh.